It Was A Very Good Mitchell Year
I began knowing only the unexceptional name of my great-great grandmother–Mary E. Mitchell–and that her first child was born in Texas in 1859. I have yet to find any sort of marriage record for Mary E. and her husband John B. Cooper.
By consulting Texas school census records and comparing them to the federal census, I found her father’s name –Ephraim M. Mitchell.
This helped me make contact with others who were researching Ephraim and his wife Rebecca R. Jones, and their 13 children!
There is family lore about Rebecca being the daughter of Sam Jones and Itee– Sam, aka Arpeika, the fierce Seminole leader and Itee, 1/2 Irish and 1/2 Choctaw.
But what about the Mitchells? No one in my family knew anything about them. Mary Mitchell’s husband was killed in the Civil War and she died shortly thereafter, leaving my great-grandfather George C. Cooper and his sister Rebecca Ann. The children were reared by their father’s family and very little was known about their mother Mary, much less her family.
But this year, with the help of some other Mitchell researchers, we have connected the dots, as one of them so aptly put it. With all the apparent relationships so obvious after the fact.
Ephraim’s father has been identified, as have some of his uncles–indentifying the uncles is part of how we got to Ephraim’s father John Mitchell. And, we found his mother, identified in Lightfoot’s “Let the Drums Roll” about Maury County Tennessee Revolutionary War veterans, only as “Patsy McClain.” Just this week we not only found her name to be McLean, but we likely found her father and mother and more.
Of course the path was not straight. John Mitchell apparently died in 1847 in Mexico as the result of illness contracted during his service in the Mexican War. The probate file for settlement of his estate is missing from the Shelby County, Texas, courthouse. (of course it is!) There is another younger John Mitchell enlisted in the same unit–but he cannot be found after the war in 1850–at least not yet. And is he even the son of John Sr. or is he a nephew?
Gratefully, someone saved some family letters and shared them with the rest of us. It’s only the transcription of a letter John Mitchell wrote in 1847 from Austin Texas where he’s awaiting deployment to Mexico. He talks about having stopped by Corsicana to visit his brother D.R., he mentions his horse Charley, and he admonishes his son Ephraim to take care of his mother. D.R. turns out to be John’s brother David Reed Mitchell, living and working in Corsicana, Navarro County, Texas, and early correspondent from Maury County Tennessee with President Andrew Jackson regarding his deceased brother James’ estate. Charley the horse is mentioned later in another preserved letter written to Ephraim by an attorney on behalf of his cousin “H. R. Mitchell”–H.R. had evidently traded the sorrel horse Charley for 100 acres of John Mitchell’s head right land in Rusk County. H. R. turns out to be Hiram Reed Mitchell, probably the son of David Reed Mitchell. Researching his family takes us back to Mississippi where there are indications that the Mitchells were between the time they were in Tennessee and Texas.
When a Patsy or Martha Mitchell who would be a good candidate for John’s wife cannot be found in the 1850 Texas census, I go looking in Mississippi. Sure enough, there’s a good possibility living in an R. L. Boyd’s home, listed as “mother-in-law” and R. L.’s wife’s name is Mary E. The longer I examine this family, the more convinced I am that this is John Mitchell’s “Patsy McClain” and Ephraim M. Mitchell’s mother. The name Boyd keeps appearing, too, as a middle name for Mitchells–both Hiram and Ephraim have children with Boyd middle names. Robert Louis Boyd dies too early for them to be named for him, so where did this name come from? My search for more info on R. L. Boyd ends up in a dead end, but I believe the Mitchell search has yielded some more clues.
I am grateful that Martha “Patsy” McLean and John Mitchell broke out of the Mitchell’s inclination to name sons John, James, Andrew or David, and named my ancestor for his maternal grandfather, Ephraim McLean, Jr. And Ephraim McLean, Jr. is married to Mary “Polly” Boyd. The McLean line is well-documented–there’s even an DAR chapter named for Ephraim McLean, Sr., a Revolutionary War vet who lived to be +90, living in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee.
So it’s been a very good year for Mitchell research. Of course, I still have questions–and this is still a challenging search because all of the Mitchell families apparently named their multitudinous sons for their relatives–John and Andrew and James with an occasional David thrown in. But it feels like a brickwall has come down, and much of it since the 4-days-ago Mad Monday post about the Mitchells.
It’s a great way to end one year and start another.
Still digging.
Congratulations on sorting it all out and putting it together! I have never heard of a school census so I never would have looked for one. My 2010 bring you more answers… and mysteries to solve
Thanks, Apple. I remember your earlier comment regarding researching this family– sideways is what did it.
Hi..I am also looking a Mitchell family . MY ggggggfather Andrew Mitchell came to American from Ireland. The Family was in Maury Tenn.then to Orange NC. It is hard tell from your writing if they tie as there were many children named John Mitchell…Do you have more details as to family further back? let me know and can give you more info if you need. Thanks John
I have been doing research in Ancestry.com and ran across some of my relatives in the Ancestry of HR Mitchell. Do you know who this is? I have more relatives to add.
I am looking for any information on my gggrandfather, Andrew Tate Mitchell, who was born in Tennessee 7/18/1813 and died 7/30/1864. He married Sarah Fitzgerald (1814-1891). Andrew died in Desoto Co. (now Tate Co,) Mississippi and is buried at Mt. Vernon Cemetary in Tate Co. next to Sarah. I have been told that he was the son of the “John Mitchell” (1760- 1839?) mentioned in Let the Drums Roll. I have documentation that his brother was James B. Mitchell. I know very little about the Mitchell line and would like to know more. I have recently been doing some amateur archeology at the old Andrew Mitchell home site in Tate Co. hoping to unearth some clues. Any help you could give me would be sincerely appreciated.
Thank you for your time.
Bill Mitchell
I am a descendent of Jane Mitchell-Holmes, daughter of Andrew Mitchell. My Andrew Mitchell was born in Orange Co, North Carolina 1 Apr 1764.
Do you have a copy of Andrew Mitchell’s Maury County, TN will of 1824? I am on Ancestry.com and I put a scanned copy of the Will, which I obtained in Maruy Co this last summer. There is also a transcript of the Will which was published by a cousin. The will part of a Chancery Court case listed: Cantell, Stephen et al vs Mitchell, John L. 1828.
My GGG Grandparents both identified in the Will: …daughter Jennett and her husband Robert Holmes. Robert’s father Moses is a witness to the will.
The Will names several sons”: David, James, George, John …. I have yet to find hard evidence these are the David, James and John you identified however the linkage makes a lot of sense based on what you have found working your way up the tree.
The tour guides at the Home of James K Polk spoke of how Columbia and Maruy Co were famous as the gateway to Texas…. sorry I do not remember the specific details… I think is was something like main road from the County Court House on Public Square became commonly referred to as “Texas Road” and that Texas set up some kind of arrangement so land deeds could be filled in Columbia by folks on their way to Texas.
Certainly substantiates the likelihood of David Reed Andrews identified in the on the Texas Historical Marker, born in North Carolina, as being from Maury County. I can not rule out more than one Andrew Mitchell living in the county at the time. I think I ran across a bunch of Mitchell’s listed in I set aside for further research but so far those elude me. Some day I may get back to Columbia to follow-up on property deeds (assuming they still exist) to trace that angle.
Happy Trails to all the Mithcell’s, cousins or not !!
Larry
I am a descendant of John’s (1760-1839)sister Martha and would like to know some more information about John. In Google I found information on Pastor James as well as two brothers who were Revolutionary War veterans. However, I have found very little information on John except that he married Elizabeth Hardwick. God bless you.
Hello! Ephraim and Rebecca are my great great grandparents. They had a son named William David “Bill” Mitchell. He and his wife Rosa had a bunch of kids of which my grandmother was one. Then Rosa got mad about something and ran off with another man, taking the children. She died and the son went back to live with Bill. The girls were sent to their maternal grandparents, but that didn’t work out when the grandfather murdered the grandmother’s lover!
My grandmother Mary Louise Mitchell is the grand-daughter of Ephraim and Rebecca. She always distinctly pronounced it “Rebekker.” I had also heard she was part Choctaw. Mary Louise Mitchell Pierce stayed in touch with her father Bill, who was shot by a neighbor over some property but survived. I live in Nacogdoches, Texas, just a short drive from Shelby County. I’ll be driving up to pay my respects to “Rebekker” this weekend.
Have you found any mention of William David “Bill” Mitchell in your research?
Thank you!
It is now January 15, 2012, and it continues to be ” A VERY GOOD YEAR”.
I am the 6XGrt Grand Daughter of Andrew Mitchell and Mary McGowan (1730 – 1790 ).
It is said “what is posted on the net, stays on the net”, and in this case I am ever so grateful.
Shelton
Thanks for stopping by. I’d be interested in knowing more about how this informed your own Mitchell research.